Comments

I have the same problem. The symptom goes away if I shift from "D" to 4th gear, making the car drop out of 5th gear. Toyota service said is was due to the software programming in the engine computer (ECU), that manages the shifting and engine speed. Toyota is aware of it but has no solution.

That's bull. This problem is either a design defect or some subtle problem Toyota does not want to acknowledge, like the transmission hesitation problem. I not accepting Toyota's response that I have to work around the problem until it gets resolved. You shouldn't either...... Good luck

This happens to me every once in awhile. The way I would describe it is it's like driving over the washboard slits on the side of some highways, or in front of some toll booths. It's not quite as jarring, but a vibration or low rumble.

I've just bought a 2008 Camry LE demo model with 8000km (~5000 miles) had it for a week and noticed the same thing; at first I thought it was the road surface since it happened to me twice on the same hill.

But since then I've been able to reproduce the same thing "taogan" describes over and over at the exact same speed he says (60-65km/h) on many different hills. It seems to happen when goin up a slight incline and accelerating slowly in the 1300-1500 RPM range. When I shift from "D" to 4th, I've been unable to cause it to happen.

For me the vibration is felt through the seat and floor, it doesn't seem to be felt through the steering wheel; are you guys experiencing the same?

I've found this online: "Toyota's transmission adds computer logic: The Camry ''knows'' when it is going up hill or down hill, and the transmission shifts gears accordingly. It can hold a lower gear longer when necessary to avoid the annoying shifting up and down that occurs in some automatics. Though it offers a manual-shift feature, we found it best to leave it in Drive as its performance is a bit mushy." ------ http://autos.aol.com/cars-Toyota-Camry+Solara-2008/expert-review

Whatever they've done, I'm not impressed; I'm going to the dealer with this information tomorrow, and will keep you all posted.

I bought my camry in Dec 07 and have had the same exact problems with the vibrations around 40 mph just like everyone else has posted. Mine not only does this on hills but also in curves and flat surfaces. After 2 different trips to the Toyota dealership where I purchased they told me there was nothing wrong with my car and that they would have to have me take the tech for a test drive....did that and he felt the problem. He said his inital thought was the torque convertor. So my car is currently in the shop where they are waiting on a go ahead from Toyota to replace the entire transmission. Once that's complete I'll let you know whether or not that solves the problem. Hopefully so, this is my first Toyota and I love the space in the car but honestly coming from someone that owned a Honda to begin with - this kinda leaves a bad taste in my mouth for Toyota.On another subject - before my car went in the shop on Monday of this week - over the weekend my husband was driving the car and had problems with the cd player giving an error 3 message. I immediately called the service department on Saturday to alert them of that problem also. The tech told me that they had several bad radios and that they would replace my radio with a brand new one also when I dropped my car off this week.So all in all - a new transmission & a new radio on a brand new 2008 4 cyl camry.

It's probably the engine straining to keep the speed up. The tranny should automatically shift to a lower gear and not have that vibration. I guess it's not designed to do that and requires you to shift manually.

My wife's new Camry is also having the 40 MPH vibration problem. Took it to the dealer this weekend and they kept it until today. They said that is is a problem that Toyota knows about and is working on a software solution. They said it was ready to be picked up and that the vibration would not hurt the car. I told them that when Ipurchased the car, I had been reading about Camry transmission problems and asked them if they were corrected, and the salesman said yes. I told them that I consider this to be a problem that would severely affect the value of the car and as such it would be covered under the Lemon Law if not corrected. I intend to keep bugging them and taking it back until fixed or until they have had 3 chances to fix, and then enact the Lemon Law if not fixed. I didn't pay $28K for a car to have it run like this.

I just picked up an 08 and it's an XLEV6, I had a bad experience with on 07, all of the tranny problems related to 07's.

So far everything is a OK. I did have an issue with the blue-tooth set up but found I was speaking to loud and over modulating when I spoke in a normal or lower voice I had no problem, I thought this might help others.

I had back up sensors but in my rear bumper and there black car is silver, anyone know if these can be painted?

Was just told by the Service Manager that there is no fix at this time and they do not consider it to be a defect, and it will not harm the vehicle. They said it is shifting into overdrive too soon. I have worked on enough cars in my life to know that if it is shifting into overdrive too soon, that is putting a strain on the transmission which will eventually result in a failure.

I have contacted Toyota in California and have been assigned a case number.

Bought a 2008 Camry about a month ago. Like the new look but that was short lived. Got the same problem with virbation/rumble around 40 mph. Dealer told me it's normal, there is nothing they can do about it and to call Toyota and complain. This is my forth and last Camry.

I can't say about Toyota, but on my wife's Mini Cooper that got rear-ended, it took an additional 3 weeks to get the correct color sensors from the plant in England. I asked about painting them, and I was told that a paint layer would distort the sensing ability, which makes sense if you think about how the sensors work.

So, I would guess the answer is NO. Having stated that, I don't understand why you can't get color-keyed sensors that match the paint color...makes nosense...

Some after market sellers say they can be painted, I see them on Caddies etc, and there painted, I guess I will just live with the black, I noticed these are sold plastic which would stop the Ultrasonic sensor behind them?Like I said I will just live with it.

Further it seems these Ultrasonic ones can be painted with two light coats of paint, I will try and pop them out but haven't found out how there held in there, one place said they were tapered to sort of jam in, as the bumper is ultra thin I am not sure I will keep you posted,

have they found a way to fix this my dealer told me it was normal until i told them i run a repair shop and my ase cert. master tech noticed my trans shutter and then they said ok we will look .they called me a day later said nothings wrong happed as soon as i left :mad:

Dealership kept my camry for a week. Toyota corp office told them not to replace the transmission. Toyota does not have a solution but does acknowledge the problem. I was told that Toyota will issue a recall once they know how to fix it. After picking up my car the service dept told me they had three other camry's come in during the week mine was there with the same exact problem.

On another note, they are replacing my radio as that was defective also. Everytime you play a cd (store bought) it quits playing in the middle of songs and says error, then good luck on getting it to eject. I'm still waiting on the radio to come in...

Correct...you don't want them tearing out the transmission for this. They should be able to issue a TSB which reflashes the software and keep it in 4th gear longer, not letting it drop into 5th overdrive and lockup until the mph get above 50. If you ride around in 4th, you'll notice no problem or lugging at all. So just tweak the software to keep it out of 5th at low speeds......and problem goes away.

My 08 Camry is a 4 cyl. The salesman has offered to trade me out and into to another vehical. I was thinking of going to a Camry SE V6. However I don't know if the V6 has the same type of trassmission problem. Can anyone help us?

I have an 08 Camry SE 4cyl. and have tried to replicate this shift problem. I went up an incline at 35,40,45 mph and trans downshifted into 4th perfectly every time. I believe it has to do with how the trans software learns your driving style. My wife and I drive pretty aggresively, and the SE loves to be driven hard. We love the car,its as close to a BMW as you will get at this price,......plus it gets an honest 30 mpg its a great car.

The picture is still murky to me about the V6 transmission. My family now has a 2002 V6 and it has been a great car with essentially no problems, which is why I was attracted to the new "08 Camry, now offering an incentive rebate.

But, I will probably pass on buying this new 08 Camry as I am not going to take a chance on getting one with a problematic transmission. I looked at v6 Accord but its ride is notably rougher and maybe ~$1K higher price with comparable options.

I purchased a new 2008 Toyota Camry LE - AT - 4 Dr Sdn. I returned to the dealerwho claimed to have reset the transmission computer memory. "Witnin the next100/200 miles the comuter will automatically adjust-- no more problem! Within the next 100 miles the problem was worse. I returned and my dealer contacted Toyota's Technical Service and was told that Toyota is aware of the problem. Thereis NO FIX available and Toyota is working on it. Maybe, Toyota, will in the future, issue a Technical Service Bulletin OR perhaps issue a Recall. "Do not bother to return with the same problem as we cannot do anything about it."I contacted Toyota Motor Car, USA in Torrence, California only to be assigned a case number and was again told "NO FIX IS AVAILABLE." I should check periodically to see if a TAC has been issued.I intend to file a request for arbitration under the state lemon laws. If you, or anyone you know, intends to purchase a NEW vehicle beware of reportson the internet that alledge 2007 - 2008 and 2009 Toyota Camry's may have this defect. "BUYER BEWARE"

I have a 2007 Camry SE V6 which I purchased in Aug/2006. I have not had transmissions issues but it definitely drives differently that any of my previous vehicles. I do not know if it's the drive by wire or the trans. One thing for sure is that the car is fast. It is not a fuel miser. So if you want 30mpg buy a different car. Also.......Drive the actual car you want to purchase. See if the Dealer will let you use it for the weekend.

Thank you for the input on your '07 V6 Camry, which sounds positive. It may be that trans probs are only affecting the V4s. Yes, I agree test drives of the actual car are essential ... .just don't want a problem to occur 500 miles later.

But be aware that a dealer can change some of the driving charactoristics of modern day vehicles by disconnecting the battery and thereby causing the system to revert back to the factory default parameters.

As the car is driven the engine/transaxle ECU "learns", and continuously relearns, the actual sensor tolerances and "correct" servomotor positions, etc.

And I am NOT speaking of driver style/type charactoristics which are ERASED each and every time you start the car.

Problem is that with modern cars, like "wwest" said, when the car is brand new, it may drive fine (as mine did), but as it filled its "sensor/actuator wear memory", it became undrivable (2007 4 cyl AT LE). After multiple software re-flashes, and finally a new ECU and a reflash of the new ECU, it drives correctly, but there was no way to detect this impending problem (very frustrating and dangerous) in the test drive. Also, as mentioned in the previous post, every time I'd take it to the dealer, they'd disconnect the batter for a while, and it would drive fine for a while, then revert to its old tricks. I wonder if the vibration might actually be just the same bad ECU software that came in my car letting it upshift to fifth and lock the torque converter too soon. Mine did that, thought I didn't notice any vibration other than that from the engine straining at extremely low RPM.

The TSB that describes the Engine/Xmission control ECU software is the successor to:

I can't help but wonder if Toyota is still selling Camrys with the old crappy ECU software in them because they don't want to have to redo their EPA mileage testing etc. So they just install when customers complain to avoid a recall/retest.

"can't help but wonder if Toyota is still selling Camrys with the old crappy ECU software in them because they don't want to have to redo their EPA mileage testing etc. So they just install when customers complain to avoid a recall/retest. "

No, the new models have the new software. BTW, my '07 had the reprogram done, and it has been perfect ever since. It did not make any noticeable change to MPG.